Barcelona has its own lifestyle that makes it unique around the world. Its Mediterranean character encourages visitors to go to its neighbourhoods and meet its people, to visit its beaches and natural spaces, as well as enjoy their leisure time with a vast range of cultural, culinary and shopping options to choose from.
There are numerous green spaces, parks and gardens spread all over the city, and over 300,000 trees in its streets and avenues.Close by are the 8,000 hectares of Parc de Collserola, one of the biggest natural spaces in the world next to a city.
Barcelona's beaches, stretching over 4 kilometres, are the most-used leisure spaces in the metropolitan area. They attract nearly nine million visitors a year, thanks to their high safety and hygiene standards and the facilities they offer.
A service city
The city has good health and medical services, both public and private, as well as a quality education system running from nursery schools to universities and higher studies.
What's more, Catalonia's capital is the only major European city with beaches inside its municipal boundaries, while its parks, hills and mountains make it an ideal spot for enjoying the outdoors and walking or cycling round. Barcelona's beaches are very safe, the sea is usually calm and the water temperature means you can bathe from spring to autumn.
They start from the sailing and fishing neighbourhood of Barceloneta, next to Port Vell, the old port, and run along the entire shore to the Fòrum, at the northernmost tip of the Barcelona coastline.
Aside from its beaches, Barcelona has some large green spaces, including urban and hill parks, botanical gardens, mazes and magical locations like Park Güell. The city is ideally situated between sea and mountain, and its leisure options are supplemented by those of the Costa Brava, Figueres and Dalí, the Pyrenees, and PortAventura, as well as many others.